Fantendo Fanon Feature 2018/Presentation/Phazonworks Engineering Division
Day 1, July 6: Dreamworks' Dragons: The New Frontier "Daring to dream is how the Dragon Riders came to be in the first place, and it's how the Berserker Riders will come to rival them in greatness." ---- So as a lot of you may or may not know, I love the Dreamworks Dragons franchise; it is by far one of my most liked Dreamworks movie franchises (especially considering how much the other franchises were milked to death, not saying who). It is one of my favorite movie franchises ever, and its spinoff TV and Netflix series were just as good, knowing not to run certain themes into the ground and giving plenty of new Dragon species that I found unique, awesome and great in concept; it dived into a world that was expanded even beyond the movies, introduced a lot of great characters (my favorites being Alvin and Dagur, mainly for their portrayals) and gave us some awesome villains (Viggo Grimborn being my personal favorite, despite his unceremonious sendoff). So what does my fan series The New Frontier bring to the table that previous series don't? Well, it's basically the classic "Where are they now?" trope, mixed with the formula of a Dreamworks' Dragons TV series, only with a key difference - Hiccup Haddock (the series' perrenial protagonist) isn't the main character in this instance as he's been busy with chiefly duties since he's inherited the mantle from his late father. Therefore, things haven't gotten very exciting for him lately. Instead this series focuses on several characters who've mainly got the spotlight in the TV and Netflix series, plus one new addition and the TV/Streaming debut of several villains from other Dragons Media (including the popular game Rise of Berk and the comics and graphic novels): *Drayden Grimborn, last of the Dragon Hunters and one of the three main protagonists. *Heather, second of the main protagonists and co-chief of the Berserker Tribe. *Dagur the Deranged, a former antagonist of the series and co-chief of the Berserker Tribe. *Alvin the Treacherous, another former antagonist (that originated from the books) voiced by the king of animated villains (Mark Hamill). And it's not just this select few; many other familiar faces will return from their short-lived appearances on past Dragons media. Including an antagonistic group that is made up entirely of returning villains; I'm talkin' 'bout the Thunderhead Tribe, a rival group of Vikings that hold a grudge against both the Hooligan Tribe (Hiccup's people) and the Berserkers for a crushing defeat they suffered in a war with them long ago. Of course most of this is mainly from some of the writing I did, and some of the villains and their origins do differ from their original source material, so as to provide more content for the series (after all, I'm planning four seasons worth of episodes with full-on pages for each; still working on it). *'Snorre the Vengeful' - (Originally Snorre the Vast) Chief of the Thunderhead Tribe, it's hard to understand how this gluttonous, somewhat dim-witted and (of course) vengeful brute got to be put in charge of the Thunderheads, but here he is; he's no tactical genius, but he's capable of raising warriors that give other tribes he goes to war with a run for their money. His army only lost the war with the Hooligans and Berserkers because of the Berserkers using Skrills with harnesses to rain lightning down upon the Thunderhead forces, and true to his name, Snorre never forgot that and has been waiting patiently for the moment to strike - which is now, since the "inexperienced children" Dagur and Hiccup are now in charge of the tribes he considers his enemies. *'Nikora Stormheart' - Upon first meeting Nikora Stormheart, you can very clearly see that she's the true leader of the Thunderheads: she's much smarter than Snorre, more strategic and handles almost every major operation in the Thunderheads' jurisdiction; and her slender and amazonian build makes her a much more lethal opponent than Snorre would be. I'm even planning on making her the main villain for the second half of the series, with Nikora taking command of the Thunderheads alongside the next two villains being discussed. *'Harald Forkbeard' - The first genuine pirate in the Dragons series, Harald was a one-off character in Rise of Berk that suffered from henchman syndrome (like Baraka and Reptile in Mortal Kombat); this time, he's a slightly more complex individual. He's moreso of an "abused Pinocchio" in this, being a puppet forcefully controlled by the Thunderheads, lest they hurt his pet dragon Leopold, a baby Grapple Grounder (he's gonna be fully grown by the time the series end); eventually, in the middle of Season 4, Harald and Leopold are able to break free, and he becomes his own man for a change, even helping the Berserker riders. *'Skuld the Sorceress' - Though she was originally a con artist in the comics, Skuld's a full-on hex-casting witch in this: she can inflict plagues, hypnotise some creatures, and even raise the dead with a proper ritual; eventually one of her spellcasting plans gets foiled by the riders and she sides with the Thunderheads to pay them back. She does end up sticking with the Thunderheads after Nikora takes command, becoming her closest confidante and advisor. And there's plenty of other one-off episodes and other recurring characters to look forward to. Drayden isn't the typical Hiccup Haddock that most Dragons fans know, but he's definitely got a familiar morality, although not as black and white as Hiccup's. There are plenty of episodes I have planned for the series, including several ones that spotlight Dragon species yet to be seen in the TV and Netflix series. With that said, that wraps up Day 1; see you guys tomorrow for the familiar and welcoming Cartoon Network Resort. Day 2, July 7: Cartoon Network Resort "How do I always get myself in these crazy situations?!" ---- When it comes to projects that cross over, I like to think that Cartoon Network Resort provides an experience that most crossovers can't give, having various characters of off-the-air & popular CN shows, like Courage the Cowardly Dog, Johnny Bravo, while at the same time giving the feeling of a classic RPG, having a customizable avatar character with multiple weapon and costume options. As the player is customized initially before the official start of the game, the avatar's gender is the only truly permanent aspect of the character that can't be changed mid-game (much like the Pokemon series), but everything else is optional: eye color, hair dye, clothing apparel (including familiar fashion items seen in popular CN Shows), even weapon choice. Probably the biggest customization option (at least I like to think it's the biggest) is something that becomes available later on: Shipping Supports - this game's version of romantic supports; don't get too excited, the biggest thing the Avatar gets out of one of these is a first kiss, but some pretty familiar (or unfamiliar) faces will be available, with four people for each gender option and you can choose who you pursue. Right now, I haven't totally completed the list, but so far I have two for male gender (a teenaged Buttercup from the original Powerpuff Girls show and Sam from Totally Spies!) and one option for the female gender (Double D from Ed, Edd n Eddy); I know that's not a lot, but I'm still working on things, and I want to keep the romantic supports as varying and interesting as possible so they're not generic and pallete swaps essentially. Anyways, that wraps up Day 2, however short it may be; see you guys tomorrow when I go over the next day's main topic, Hyrule Warriors: Trinity. Day 3, July 8: Hyrule Warriors: Trinity "A trinity of light, a trinity of darkness, and a war that will decide the fate of the world." ---- One of my oldest Zelda projects and somewhat my most famous (not by much, though), Trinity is one of my favorite Zelda projects, due strictly to the fact that the non-canon nature of the title allowed me to essentially completely reboot the continuity and reform and rework a lot of the characters and lore in the Legend of Zelda series; it's been really fun to do, especially the weapons and playstyle as its let me work in stuff that past HW characters couldn't offer (imo), like how Link's new Master Sword moveset having Fi in the combos, and Link's Bug Net basically being Agitha's moveset with changes enough to make it be Link moreso than when Agitha uses it. Anyways, the story is pretty simple: there's this huge background about the forces of good and evil constantly trying to win the universe for their own designs, and as a result both sides create a trinity: the Triforce and the Tripathy, which both kind of faded into myth and legend over time. Flash forward to modern day: Hyrule and its neighboring land Termina are kind of at war with each other, one all started by a piece of land - one that Hyrule believes is sacred, and something that Termina believes would make a grand spot for an international market. Things were already pretty tense between the two kingdoms, but this is basically what set things off between the two; while there are plenty of people in both lands who don't believe war is the answer, these are unfortunately a minority in both lands. Now this is different from what we know, but how are the characters different? Well, let me give a major example from the series hero, Link. The first thing anyone knows about him is that he was found in the mountains by the Goron tribe, and after that he was adopted by the Postman of Clock Town, who raised him as his own; Link grew up in Clock Town and was that guy: friendly and compassionate, able to make friends with anyone (his best friends being Darmas the Goron Elder's son and the mischievous Skull Kid) and able to solve a problem by just having people talk it out - he even saved Mayor Dotour and Madame Aroma's marriage on one occasion. And like the minority I mentioned earlier, he doesn't want to go to war with Hyrule, and despite that, he still finds himself drafted into the Terminian Army; not exactly the Hero of Time we know, but he eventually becomes the hero of the story when he gets led on a wild adventure that eventually leads him to his destiny as the embodiment of the Triforce of Courage. It's not just him, either; many characters are given new backstory elements to change them up from what you may know them as. As the game goes on, the forces of good will have to race to stop the forces of evil, led by a misguided Ganondorf (who is more complex than before). I could go on, but this is getting too long even when compressed; that said, see you tomorrow for Star Fox: Mission Zero. Day 4, July 9: Star Fox: Mission Zero "Friends, foes, new faces, old faces and one final war to determine peace in the universe - all coming down to a single mission: mission zero." ---- Sorry, guys, but I have to cop out on this day; I've given this as much thought as humanly possible, but I've got nothing. Even after a good night's sleep I still have nothing. So I'll just list my reveals for the project in blunt sentences. *Wolf is playable in the 4th act of the story. *Mission Zero has a free play mode unlocked after finishing the main story. *And the story is a mix of Star Fox Command and Star Fox Zero. Day 5, July 10 "So unreal, it hurts!" ---- A lot of you might be wondering what the final day of the showcase could have told that the other days didn't cover previously; especially considering I've basically kept it a tightly knit secret for days... Well, that's because I've got something big to tell the story on; a universe that is filled to the brim with sorcerers, elemental gods, revenants, dragon kings and a pyramid that could end all life with the power it holds in the wrong hands. What universe could I be talking about? Well, for those who don't know, it's very simple: MORTAL KOMBAT!!! I know, I know, what's so big about the 30+year-old franchise with 10 main installments? Well, considering I'm doing a new project that's basically the Smash Ultimate of the series, I'd say that's what so big. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm proud to announce my project of the MK series: Mortal Kombat: Chronicles Chronicles is basically an anthology/love-letter of the MK series done by me, as I'm including pretty much every stage and character in the series with a few exceptions. But what could it include that separates it from the other MK games? Well, for starters it doesn't have a story; it does have a Konquest mode similar to Deception, but that's a DLC thing revolving around one particular guest character. Let's go over what I have for this anthology: *'Almost All Characters Returning': Pretty much only a handful of characters are not returning for this (among them Hsu Hao and Kobra, the worst characters in the series; see History Behind The Warrior's Youtube channel for a full explanation), where everyone else will be getting their own moveset, likely based on their most recent incarnation. *'No Reused Interactive Intros': Having one of the biggest rosters to date means that there'll be plenty of unique intros; even if it's for characters that have had little to no interaction within the series, there will be a minimum of 2 unique intros per character combination. *'Some reworked fighting styles': While some MK characters aren't changed much or at all, there are many characters in the series given a completely new playstyle so to give them fresh feels, and not just characters that haven't appeared in a while either: Raiden, for example - he's a series mainstay, but his main combos (plus some specials) will be worked to include his staff. *'Every Stage Returning': Yep. Every stage in MK history ever is returning. Pretty self-explanatory. *'Guest Characters?': Right now, only two are planned: Pennywise and Dylan Singer from my Zombies Ate My Neighbors reboot. I'm not sure if I should bring back every past guest, but I'm thinking about it, as I kinda like Jason's playstyle in MKX. And that's pretty much everything to talk about in MKC, which wraps up my showcase as a whole; see you guys next time, when I do a DirectCast or when I finally do a character spotlight for one of the fighters in Chronicles. See you guys then. Category:Phazonworks Engineering Division Category:Darth Phazon Category:Fantendo Fanon Feature 2018